The Silent Bender
by ElizaStanton125
Summary: A girl growing up in the South Pole was always different from the rest. A waterbender that stays close to the Avatar Gang. Follow her through this journey that we have all seen before, just from a different perspective.


**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN AVATAR LAST AIRBENDER OR ITS CHARACTERS OR THE STORY LINE. IT SHOULD BE OBVIOUS THAT I DON'T. IF I DID, I WOULDN'T BE DOING THIS RIGHT NOW.**

**Side Notes: Hello~! I wrote this out of creativity/boredom. I hope this is okay. I've had the idea for a while, but I could't stop thinking about it. So here it is in black and white. I hope it isn't bad. If it is, please tell me. -_-' This is set up in "episodes" so, you guessed it, I follow the show through the entire series or "Books." Whatever you wanna use. Please leave a review and stuff like that. That would be amazing. Now a little bit about our main character, Jade. Her mother is from the fire nation and her father is a water bender who escaped persecution by living in Northern Water Tribe. He made his way into the Fire Nation(how that worked is up to you) and fell in love with a beautiful Fire Nation woman. They married and had a baby, but things got heated(no pun intended) and Jade's mother told her to take her new baby girl to the Southern Water Tribe where they'd be safe. Jade's father wanted to return, but her mother refused and told him to stay and raise their daughter. A few years later, Jade's father and the rest of the men from the tribe went to war, where she was then adopted by Katara's family. Jade is about Katara's height with golden eyes, dark hair and pale skin. She is a water bender like her father, as is her friend, Domanik(met later). **

~Episode 1: The Boy In The Ice Burg~

_I was staring up at a large dome of ice with something-somethings-inside, then I was flying on a great beast, my adopted family, Sokka and Katara, and my best friend, Domanik, with me. On the beasts head was a strange, bald boy with odd tattoos. Were they tattoos? Who was this mystery child? Just as I crept forward and reached out to him, but then flames engulfed the great beast and I awoke with a jump._

I gasped and sat up. I haven't had that dream before. What just happened. I looked down at my blue, one shoulder tunic with the white fur and took deep breaths to calm myself. I had lay down for a nap after Katara and Sokka, my adopted family, went fishing.

Why do I call them my adopted family you ask? When I was just a baby, my father came to the Southern Water Tribe to save us from the Fire Nation. It is said my mother is from the Fire Nation and stayed behind to protect us, but those are just stories that are told. I don't know what to believe.

I heard some excitement outside and pulled some of my hair up above my head. Then pulling my shoes, coat, and gloves on, I went outside to see what all the commotion was about.

Before me was a large beast. Had I seen it somewhere before? It seemed so familiar. Katara and Sokka carried a strange boy to the tent. I came alongside to help with whatever they needed.

"Jade, go get some extra blankets," Katara ordered. I nodded and hurried off to get spare blankets. I returned some time later with a thick over blanket and a thinner one.

"Thanks Jade," Katara smiled at me, then took the blankets from my hands. The boy tossed and turned in his sleep. I knelt down next to him, feeling his head for a fever, but he seemed fine.

"Where did you find him Katara?" I asked, looking up at her. Katara shrugged.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she said, shaking her head a bit.

"Try me," I challenged, slipping my glove back on. Katara took a deep breath and straightened a little.

"Sokka and I found him in an ice burg," she said simply, obviously a bit worried. I just stared at her, trying to remember what it sounded like, getting lost in thought I saw the great beast eating loads of hay. Why was all this so familiar?

"Jade?" Katara's voice interrupted my thoughts and I looked at her.

"That's amazing that he survived," I said, though I'm not sure why. Katara looked at me weird, but then dropped the subject.

"Come on, we have chores to do," she said, walking away. I followed, taking a last glance at the boy. He still tossed and turned. I sighed and hurried up to Katara to help with chores.

* * *

Shortly after, I was following the village out to officially meet the strange boy. My friend, Domanik, stood to the left of me. He was about as old as Sokka, Katara, and I. His dad left for war like everyone else's. He was about the same height as Sokka with deep blue eyes and long brown hair that was somewhat pulled up into a bun on the top of his head. The rest flowed out like chocolatey waterfall. Katara dragged him out and they stood in front of us. He looked goofy with a bald head, big brown eyes, and that odd tattoo of an arrow on his head. Even his clothes were strange. A small child grabbed my hand. I looked down and saw it was one of the small girls, Maria. I smiled and squeezed her hand a little, then looked back up as Katara started talking.

"Aang, meet the entire village. Entire village, Aang," she said with a kind smile on her face. Aang bowed formally. We all took a small half step back, except for Domanik. He stood there with an angry scowl on his face. He hated intruders as much as the next guy, which would be Sokka. Every one was worried for their safety and their children's safety. I tightened my hand slightly around Maria's.

"Uh...Why are they all looking at me like that? Did Appa sneeze on me?" Aang asked, pointing towards us and leaning towards Katara. She and Sokka seemed to be fine around the new comer.

"Well no one has seen an airbender in a hundred years. We thought they were extinct, Until my granddaughter and grandson found you," Gran-Gran stepped forward. What a brave woman.

"Extinct?" Aang asked, perplexed. How could he not know? Airbenders were wiped out a century ago by the fire nation. How could he not know? How long was he in that ice burg?

"Aang, this is my grandmother," Katara said, polite as ever. I looked over at Domanik. He ran a hand through his hair and placed a hand on my shoulder, smiling down at me. I smiled back.

"Call me Gran-Gran," Gran said, utterly serious.

"What is this a weapon? You can't stab anything with this," Sokka said, grabbing Aang's object and moving it about a bit, staring at it angrily.

"It's not for stabbing, it's for airbending," Aang explained, taking the thing and holding it so it unfurled into two large orange wing-type things and two smaller ones closer to the bottom. Sokka spooked.

"Magic trick! Do it again!" a young girl asked. Maria ran to the front to see what she had missed. I smiled at her, then turned my attention back to Aang's thing.

"Not magic, airbending. It let's me control the air currents around my body and fly," Aang explained again, grinning from ear to ear, moving it around in a small demonstration.

"You know last time I checked, humans can't fly," Sokka said, irritated that things were going all topsy turvy on him.

"Check again," Aang exclaimed, grabbing his object and jumping into the sky, actually flying. The crowd murmured as I stared amazing as he flew around for a bit, impressing some and scaring others. He smiled down at Katara then flew right into Sokka's watch tower head first, which made me chuckle silently. He got himself out and landed in a big pile of snow. Katara walked over to help him up.

"That was amazing," Katara said as she helped him up. Aang twirled his device and the wings disappeared while Sokka got buried in the remnants of his watch tower.

"Great. You're an airbender, Katara's a waterbender. Together you can just waste time all day long," Sokka said, climbing out of his snowy pile and storming off.

"You're a waterbender!" Aang exclaimed, suddenly excited. Katara looked stunned for a moment, then answered with, "Well, sort of. Not yet."

"All right, no more playing. Come on Katara, you have chores," Gran-Gran said, taking Katara by the hand and leading her away with a firm yet gentle hand. I waved to Domanik as he went to go mess with Sokka and I hurried off to do my own chores.

* * *

About an hour later I was hanging laundry to dry next to the main fire when I saw Aang setting up something with Sokka's whale tooth spear and extra tent poles. The great beast named Appa set his tail on the spear and children lined up to take a ride down and back up again. I smiled. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all. I returned to hanging laundry and sometime after that I heard Aang yell, "PENGUIN!" I looked over and saw Aang run at incredible speed to where I assumed the penguin had gone. Katara, Sokka, and Domanik all stood there, looking towards him. Sokka looked towards Katara and said something I couldn't hear.

Katara, Domanik and I decided to go on a search for Aang. Domanik wanted to keep an eye on him, but I wanted to just simply get a chance to talk to him. Katara and I talked about what it would be like to know how to waterbend while Domanik groaned audibly the whole way.

Katara smiled at me then stopped and looked around. "Aang."

We heard his laugh and saw him chasing the penguins around, laughing with that same laugh and smiling that same smile. "Hey come on little guy. Wanna go sledding?" he asked, before promptly falling on his stomach in the snow.

We all walked down to him and he helped himself up with his airbending. "I have a way with animals," he said. He then waddled and made his own penguin sounds, which made Katara and I laugh. Domanik rolled his eyes and groaned. "Oh yeah. I don't think I've met you guys yet," Aang said, turning to us.

"I'm Jade. It's nice to meet you," I said, waving and smiling.

"Domanik," Domanik said curtly. He obviously didn't like being here. So why was he? I wouldn't find out until later.

"It's nice to meet you all," Aang said, bowing politely, making me feel a bit guilty.

Katara smiled and turned to Aang. "Aang, I'll show you how to catch a penguin if you teach us water bending," Katara offered.

Aang, who was being dragged behind a penguin let go and looked over at Katara. "You gotta deal. There's just one problem, I'm an airbender, not a waterbender. Isn't there someone in your tribe who can teach you guys?" Aang said, bending to his knees then standing.

"No. You're looking at the only waterbenders in the whole South Pole," Katara said, turning away and looking down. I put a hand on her shoulder and Domanik scowled at Aang, not happy Katara asked the question in the first place.

"This isn't right. A waterbender needs to master water," Aang said, thinking for a moment. "What about the North Pole? There's another water tribe up there right? Maybe they have waterbenders who could teach you," he offered, seeming genuinely concerned.

"Maybe, but we haven't had contact from our sister tribe in a long time," Katara said, seeming to consider it. I was too.

"It's not exactly 'turn right at the second glacier,' it's on the other side of the world," Domanik said, crossing his arms and softening up a bit.

"But you forget, I have a flying bison. Appa and I can personally fly you to the North Pole. Katara, Jade, Domanik, we're gonna find you a master," Aang said deftly. He seemed dead set on this.

"That's...I mean...I don't know. We've never left home before," I said, suddenly scared that I would miss it too much here.

"Well...think about it. In the mean time, Katara, can you teach me how to catch one of these penguins?" Aang asked, hoping for his side of the deal now.

"Okay, listen closely my young pupil. Catching penguins is an ancient and sacred art," Katara said, bowing in mock mastership. "Observe." She proceeded to pull out a small fish from her sleeve. As did Domanik and I, smiling at each other. Katara tossed the fish to him and Aang was suddenly surrounded by penguins.

Not long after that we were all racing on our penguins that we had managed to get eat our fish. Katara was laughing like I hadn't heard in a long time. Domanik and I were in a race with each other. We were neck in neck when I hear Katara call out ahead of us to Aang, "I haven't done this since I was a kid!" Aang replied with, "You still are a kid!"

I smiled and focused on my race, leaning forward to gain speed. Domanik did the same. We sped into an ice tunnel and slowed to a stop in front of the old Fire Navy ship frozen in time, and dismounted our penguins. We walked forward some and looked up at the large ship. Katara, Domanik and I were all on edge.

"Woah...What is that?" Aang asked, curiosity and wonderment covering his words.

"A Fire Navy ship, and a very bad memory for our people," Domanik said, glaring at the large hunk of metal before us. I took a small step back as its faded flag fluttered in the breeze.

Aang started walking forward and Katara put her hand out to him. "Aang stop. We're not allowed to go near it. The ship could be booby trapped," she said, reaching further and further forward as she spoke.

Aang stopped and turned back to us. "Look, if you wanna be a bender, you have to let go of fear," he said, smiling at her. Katara gave up and cautiously walked towards the ship. I looked at Domanik who had his "don't you dare think about it" look, but I swallowed and caught up with Katara. I heard Domanik sigh and follow us. We stopped by Aang, then he led the way into the large ship. It loomed over us like a tower, yet colder and much more evil. We found a hole in the side and climbed through it, Domanik helping me in and Aang helping Katara.

Our footsteps echoed in my ear and my heart pounded. What was I doing on here? Why was this happening? Then I remembered something my dad had told me. _Everything happens for a reason, you just have to except it as it comes._ But this...this was just wrong. The metal creaked, putting me more on edge than before, if that was even possible. Domanik put a hand on my shoulder, smiling gently at me. I had to admit, his smiles always calmed me down.

"This ship has haunted our tribe since Gran-Gran was a little girl. It was part of the Fire Nations first attacks," Katara said, a sad sound to her voice, telling Aang the truth at last.

"Okay, back up. I have friends all over the world, even in the fire nation. I've never seen any war," Aang said, picking up a spear and holding it as he tried to figure this all out.

"Aang, how long were you in that ice burg?" Katara asked. I stood in the middle of the room, looking around, staying close to Domanik.

"I don't know...a few days maybe...?" Aang said, unsure of exactly how long.

"I think it was more like a hundred years," I said, chiming in. Everyone looked at me, seeming to silently agree. Accept Aang.

"What? That's impossible. Do I look like a hundred and twelve year old man to you?" Aang asked, putting the spear back, turning to us.

"Think about it. The war is a century old. You don't know about it because...somehow. You were in there that whole time. It's the only explanation," Domanik said, stepping closer to me.

Aang stumbled back, holding his head and taking a seat before he fell. "A hundred years. I can't believe it," he said, staring at the ground. His smile was gone and he looked so sad and confused. Katara sat next to him and stroked his head.

"It's okay Aang. Maybe...somehow there's a bright side to all of this," Katara said soothingly, as if she were talking to a child.

"I did get to meet you," Aang said, rather quickly, but I brushed it off. Katara gave a smile and held out her hand.

"Come on. Let's get out of here," she said, helping him up. We walked out to finish exploring. I stayed close to Domanik for comfort.

* * *

It had been a long time and Aang was still busily exploring everything, seeming to have forgotten our earlier discovery.

"Aang, let's head back. This place is creepy," Katara said, looking around.

"Huh?" Aang said, looking down. We all stopped as a gate creaked shut behind us. We let out an audible gasp. Katara and Aang ran to the gate and I took a step back. Domanik stood in front of me protectively.

"What's that you said about booby traps?" Aang asked, suddenly frightened. Pipes pumped warm air, dials flipped to life, sparks went off, and a flare flew into the sky. "Uh-oh," was all Aang could manage to say.

Aang looked up and picked Katara up like a princess. "Hold on tight," was all he said before jumping up. Domanik busted out a nearby window and we quickly caught up with Aang and Katara, who had hopped down the side of the ship. We ran towards the village, wanting to be as far away from that place as possible.

**It's finally over. Jade forgets her dreams, so that's why she was so confused. And the dreams are of the future if you haven't guessed. I hope this was okay. I know it was long, but I'm only following the episodes as they go along. Please forgive me. -.-" Thank you so much for reading this, it really mean a lot. Stay tuned for more.**

**Update: In light of a recent review, someone doesn't understand what FanFiction is about venting these ideas on here, so if that person is reading it: You obviously don't understand what this is really all about. It IS about fantasy's in someones mind going up on here to share. If I didn't want to share it, then I wouldn't have. This is the best work I've done in a long time. If you would have read the disclaimer it CLEARLY states that I don't own the show or the characters, but I changed it just for you. Hope you enjoy it. 3**


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